How to Fill Blank Cells in a CSV With the Value Above (Fill Down)

To fill blank cells with the value above, give every empty cell the nearest value above it in the same column. The CSV fill down tool does this in your browser, the way Fill Down works in Excel. You tick the columns, check the preview and the count of cells filled, and download the file.

Do it only to columns that are grouped.

Why exports leave blanks

Many reports and CRM exports are grouped: the company, the owner or the campaign appears on the first row of its group and the rows under it are blank. It looks tidy but breaks a filter, a pivot table or an import, because each row no longer carries its own value. Filling down gives every row of the group its own copy.

Step 1: do it by hand in Excel

Select the column, press Ctrl+G, choose Special, Blanks, type =, press the up arrow, then press Ctrl+Enter. Every blank cell now points to the cell above it. Copy the column and paste as values, or the formulas break when you sort. This works for one column at a time, and the steps are easy to get wrong the first time.

Step 2: use the tool

1. Upload the CSV or .xlsx, or paste the cells with the header row first.
2. Tick the columns whose blank cells should be filled.
3. Check the preview and the count of cells filled.
4. Download the filled file.

Going down the file, the tool remembers the last non-blank value of each ticked column. A blank cell, or one with only spaces, takes that value. A cell that already has a value is never changed and becomes the new value to copy.

What is left blank

• Blank cells above the first value of a column stay empty and are counted.
• A row that is blank in every column is treated as a break and is not filled. To remove such rows, see how to remove blank rows from a CSV.

Which columns to tick

Tick only columns that are grouped, such as Company, Owner or Campaign. The tool cannot tell a blank that belongs to the group above from a value that is simply missing. Filling an Email or Phone column would copy one person's address onto a different person. For missing emails, see fill missing emails. To see how complete each column is first, use the CSV fill rate checker, and read check fill rate before a mail merge.

What this cannot do

• It copies the value above and cannot tell which blanks are really missing data.
• Blanks above the first value of a column stay blank.
• It does not fill an email column with addresses it does not have.
• Only the first sheet of a workbook is read.

Verify the addresses

Once each row stands on its own, upload the list on the verify page: the first 100 email checks are free with a Google sign-in, no card. Each address comes back valid, risky or invalid with a reason, and nothing is sent to anyone on the list. For larger or recurring lists, see bulk email verification, list cleaning and pricing.

Fill your blanks now

Upload the file to CSV fill down.